Picking Your Version of the Nanny State
by Tom Buchanan
Monday, April 09, 2007

It seems like everyone is in an uproar over the coming nanny state.

Half of the people scream about the government dictating what we shall drive, what we should eat and drink, and what we shall talk about and indeed even how we shall think. The other half of the people want the government to tell us what is good for us because many people cannot use common sense.

On a local radio talk show host the term being bantered is “it's the world we live in” when anything involving a firearm makes the news. The implication is that we need to all adhere to a different way of thinking because of events.

My fear is that “the world we live in” is one of Zero Tolerance, which is the Nanny State on steroids. Half of the people believe that we need to alter our way of thinking and acting because many people cannot use common sense and therefore we need to have the police step in where no crime has been committed.

We are quickly moving from a society where the potential to commit a crime is as criminal as actually committing the crime. If we subscribe to this philosophy that prevention is the way to go when it comes to committing a crime then we must also find merit in the government telling us what to eat, drive and say. After all, is that not prevention?

Either you want to live in a nanny state or you don't. Just be careful of being hypocritical when you use the term to describe your distain for too much government.

Email Tom